Possible solution to trade routes crash

[Nero]

Hello,

I was having problems with the trade route crash and saw many people with the same problem.
I started looking the Ceasar files with any option related with trade routes.
I switched an option off and the crash bug disappears in my game but the trade route lines goes white (it´s not tath bad).

What i did:

Open NewConstants.txt file located at "Caesar Dir\Data"

Find:

EmpireLevel/TradeRoutePolys;bool;1


Replace to:

EmpireLevel/TradeRoutePolys;bool;0


Start Caesar and try again the trade routes.

If anyone confirms tath the crash goes away, it should be more easy to devs track down the bug.

[sintri]

works here, figured it was something like the trade routes graphics not rendering properly or worse plotting out of bounds or something, anyhow, bit more descriptive on how to do it.
*open your -:\Program Files\Sierra\Caesar IV\Data folder

*open NewConstants.txt

*search for EmpireLevel/TradeRoutePolys;bool;1
or if you're doing this manually it'll be between
EmpireLevel/WaterTextureName;String;EL Trade Route Red
EmpireLevel/TradeRoutePolys;bool;1
EmpireLevel/TradeRouteWidth;float;6.0

*replace 1 with 0 so it'll look like EmpireLevel/TradeRoutePolys;bool;0

*right click properties on NewConstants.txt icon, uncheck Read-Only, this will allow you to save over the txt document, then close the textpad, asks if you want to save, click save.

enter the game and try it out, worked for me, the trade routes are all simplified now to a really thin line.

read before you post yoshi..

and if this works for anyone else, thank Nero and sticky this as a temporary solution.

[Duud]

Worked perfectly for me!

I could open ALL trade routes from the 3rd scenario, whereas I couldn't even open the empire screen before... All that is changed is that traderoutes are now represented by a thiner red line.

You should earn a reward from the devs, since they don't seem to have a clue about what was happening to the game. My respects to you!

On a side note...

Sorry to say this, but one doesn't need to be a genius to conclude that when lots and lots of people have the same crash problem when clicking on the same button, the problem is obiously related to a bug in the trade/empire screen. To have that figured out by a customer is shameful. To try to put the resposability on customers back (clean registry, update drivers, send DxDiag) is even worse.

Unfortunately, I lost all the excitement on playing this game (even after this workaround). I adopted a personal policy of returning EVERY game that doesn't work flawlessly out of the box. My car worked perfectly "out of the box", so did my wristwatch, my stereo, my microwave oven and my celular phone. The games industry could do the same, but they are more worried about sales than customer satisfaction.

A little bug here and there would be acceptable, provided that a patch would be released ASAP, but not one so obvious that a stoned, drunk and/or acephalus beta tester could spot right in front of his face on the first try.

Considering that there are LOTS of games that DO WORK perfectly out of the box, I must assume that when they don't, it's a publisher/developer/whatever fault, and they don't deserve my money for an unfinished and unpolished product.

That's why this game will be going back to store tomorrow morning, after so much time of anticipation. I prefer to sacrifice my enjoyment than to support this kind of mediocre practice.

Cheers!

[gstommylee]

No crashes on tutorial 4. Nice find. Well Duud its not always developers fault if they can't find it in QA. There are billions of pc configurations out there and the machine and most bugs that are not found in QA are found after the game is out. THis happens to all PC games.

[NeroisaGod]

Hello,

I was having problems with the trade route crash and saw many people with the same problem....

If anyone confirms tath the crash goes away, it should be more easy to devs track down the bug.


Nero is a God

P.S. I want to have your babies.

P.P.S. I made it to Repblic level 6 with this bug and I was getting very good at just making money off of property/sales tax....but boy was it slow. I bet the rest of the game seems like a cakewalk after doing what I've done.

[gstommylee]

well caralis rep teir 3 still crashes on the trade route but it does give an improvement and a possible place for the devs to see where it causing the problem.

edit er nvm above. I edited the file on the wrong game directory i have this installed on 2 diffenret folders for 2 diferent OSs (XP and Vista). Anyways now that i edited the right one it doesn't crash.

Thanks nero.

[[DAD]SilverMoon]

Rep Tier 3 Caralis here no city, Worked like a champ here....Opened all trade routes without a crash...Doing a couple more tries to make sure.

[[DAD]SilverMoon]

well 4 tries on caralis with and without a city and it worked like a champ no a single crash after opening all trade routes

[Amenirdis]

Nero, that's fantastic news!! Congratulations on the find! :D:D
I hope it works for everyone and that the devs can take it from here (if they haven't already come to the same conclusions).
This should be stickied, if you ask me. :)

[Zamolxes]

OMG Nero u're a GENIUS!!! IT WORKS godamn it!!! IT WORKS!!!
Dunno how u found it, but eliminates my trade crashes completely, i can open multiple trade routes straight up from begining in new scenarios.
Only problem is u get a "U cheated!" at end of scenario, in big red letters :( (for modifing newconstants.txt). But hey i can live with that, not i can play the game smoothly at least! Thanks again Nero!

[DanielKD]

Yes!!! It worked for me, too! I had already figured out that it had to be happening when the lines were being drawn. Now I can really begin to enjoy the game. Thanks for finding this answer!

[existenz]

Amenirdis: I've crosslinked the Sticky Crashes thread to this thread to lead people here!

Edit: Congratulations Nero for working out a solution - now even more people can enjoy the game fully.

[Amenirdis]

Amenirdis: I've crosslinked the Sticky Crashes thread to this thread to lead people here! Great! Thanks Existenz! And I PM'd Reed to make it a sticky. :)

[Elamite]

On a side note...

Sorry to say this, but one doesn't need to be a genius to conclude that when lots and lots of people have the same crash problem when clicking on the same button, the problem is obiously related to a bug in the trade/empire screen. To have that figured out by a customer is shameful. To try to put the resposability on customers back (clean registry, update drivers, send DxDiag) is even worse.

Unfortunately, I lost all the excitement on playing this game (even after this workaround). I adopted a personal policy of returning EVERY game that doesn't work flawlessly out of the box. My car worked perfectly "out of the box", so did my wristwatch, my stereo, my microwave oven and my celular phone. The games industry could do the same, but they are more worried about sales than customer satisfaction.

A little bug here and there would be acceptable, provided that a patch would be released ASAP, but not one so obvious that a stoned, drunk and/or acephalus beta tester could spot right in front of his face on the first try.

Considering that there are LOTS of games that DO WORK perfectly out of the box, I must assume that when they don't, it's a publisher/developer/whatever fault, and they don't deserve my money for an unfinished and unpolished product.

That's why this game will be going back to store tomorrow morning, after so much time of anticipation. I prefer to sacrifice my enjoyment than to support this kind of mediocre practice.

Cheers!



that's easy for you to say. Life isn't as simplistic for a programmer. In their minds things don't seem so simple as you see it. Because they have made the code, when they see such an error they probably think to themselves of all the little patches of code that could result into this error and therefore really get confused as to which one to review. It's their knowledge that works to their disadvantage. But you and I don't have all that knowledge to confuse us.

Keep in mind, on their own test computers this error had not happened. So it seems to the rendering process is slightly different on every PC and therefore the outcomes unpredictable.

I don't think the game is a buggy game at all above any other game. I actually find it to have very minimal problems. Every game you buy out there has "at least" as many problems as this one, if not more, when they are released. No such a thing as bug free software, I assure you. It's the nature of this technology.

And don't compare this game to your car or your watch. Software like this is much more sophisticated in design and structure.

[Elamite]

I also suggest to those of you who get the crash to also play around with the line:

EmpireLevel/TradeRouteWidth;float;6.0

Try changing the number from 6.0 to something lower or higher while the "bool" factor is set to "1"

See if the thickness of the line effects your crashes without the "bool" property having been set to 0.

[vic_4]

that's easy for you to say. Life isn't as simplistic for a programmer. In their minds things don't seem so simple as you see it. Because they have made the code, when they see such an error they probably think to themselves of all the little patches of code that could result into this error and therefore really get confused as to which one to review. It's their knowledge that works to their disadvantage. But you and I don't have all that knowledge to confuse us.

Keep in mind, on their own test computers this error had not happened. So it seems to the rendering process is slightly different on every PC and therefore the outcomes unpredictable.

I don't think the game is a buggy game at all above any other game. I actually find it to have very minimal problems. Every game you buy out there has "at least" as many problems as this one, if not more, when they are released. No such a thing as bug free software, I assure you. It's the nature of this technology.

And don't compare this game to your car or your watch. Software like this is much more sophisticated in design and structure.
Completely agree and would add that 50-80 years ago you would not have expected a "bug free" car and the same is appliable to every new item. How many models of cars have been recalled due to major "bugs" and that applies to most brands.

[Natty Dread]

Works for me so far!!! I can now enjoy this game....(sigh of relief).

Thanks Nero!

[sansavarous]

WOO HOO FIXED!

I made the changes suggested by Nero in the first post.
Then I loaded the game started the first empire mission, went to the trade screen and clicked open trade route. I fully expected when I clicked yes that the game would crash.

SWEET it didn't crash, I then figured I'd push my luck. I opened the other three trade routes and WOO HOO all three opened.

The biggest diffrence other then not crashing I noticed is the lines connecting my city and the trade city were much thinner.

Once I'm home from work tonight I'll play and test the game, if all works you probably won't see me on the boards much. :D
________
THREESOME BIKINI (http://www.****tube.com/categories/1060/bikini/videos/1)

[sansavarous]

Can this be stickied?
________
VAAAPP VAPORIZER (http://essentialvaaappvaporizer.com)

[Simulus Maximus]

Nero is a God

P.S. I want to have your babies.



Wow, I'm going to try it later when I have time. THANKS!! I'd want to have your baby, too, Nero, if I wasn't so **** old!!! LOL

P.S. If this works I will build a shrine in your honor. And an obelisk. And a pyramid.... oh, wait, wrong city-building game....

[Will Jennings]

Great find, Nero!

We'd still like to get a better idea of what hardware configurations cause this crash (as we still haven't been able to physically lay hands on a computer that reproduces the issue, and that's necessary to solving a problem like this), so if you haven't yet posted your dxdiag to this thread (http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10310), it would be much appreciated if you could.

[PhilL]

Great find, Nero!

We'd still like to get a better idea of what hardware configurations cause this crash (as we still haven't been able to physically lay hands on a computer that reproduces the issue, and that's necessary to solving a problem like this), so if you haven't yet posted your dxdiag to this thread (http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10310), it would be much appreciated if you could.

I'll trade pc's with ya.;)

[Bugsy]

On a side note...

Sorry to say this, but one doesn't need to be a genius to conclude that when lots and lots of people have the same crash problem when clicking on the same button, the problem is obiously related to a bug in the trade/empire screen. To have that figured out by a customer is shameful. To try to put the resposability on customers back (clean registry, update drivers, send DxDiag) is even worse.

Lots and lots of people also didn't have the bug at all. That would indicate to the programmers that it is NOT a bug on the trade screen, but one having to do with configuration. These forums and the people on it are numerous indeed, but in no way represent the entire amount of people who bought the game, and have had no issues. As for what they have you do (clean registry, update drivers, defrag, and send dxdiag), is standard practice for almost ALL software or hardware errors in tech support. It is the process of elimination. If you knew the sheer volume of problems solved by those few things, you would not be griping about them now. I would even add Virus Scan, and Spyware/Adware scans to the list on the general computer function errors side. Many many issues stem from those things needing done, and are resolved by having them done.


Unfortunately, I lost all the excitement on playing this game (even after this workaround). I adopted a personal policy of returning EVERY game that doesn't work flawlessly out of the box. My car worked perfectly "out of the box", so did my wristwatch, my stereo, my microwave oven and my celular phone. The games industry could do the same, but they are more worried about sales than customer satisfaction.

A little bug here and there would be acceptable, provided that a patch would be released ASAP, but not one so obvious that a stoned, drunk and/or acephalus beta tester could spot right in front of his face on the first try.

I bet you return a LOT of games, and other programs. You should also uninstall Windows, since that's the buggiest program I can think of that you are probably using anyway. NO program is without error or bugs on ALL machines. It just does not happen. Many bugs never appear in beta testing, only to surface after release. You cannot ever test all the bugs out of a game. I've never gotten a game I didn't have to download a patch for, which means no game I've ever bought has been bug free. THIS was 'a little bug', only you turned it into some major drama for yourself, and posted a huffy message in frustration for the world to see, so obviously for you, a bug here and there is not acceptable.


Considering that there are LOTS of games that DO WORK perfectly out of the box, I must assume that when they don't, it's a publisher/developer/whatever fault, and they don't deserve my money for an unfinished and unpolished product.

That's why this game will be going back to store tomorrow morning, after so much time of anticipation. I prefer to sacrifice my enjoyment than to support this kind of mediocre practice.
Cheers!

I'm very sad you let your overwhelming frustration over a small bug rob you of a great game, especially when the cause of your problem was found--no matter who found it. It's easy to lay blame at the dev's feet. They wrote the code, so it's easy to say it's all their fault. But when they are on the forums actively trying to find and eliminate the problem as these guys have been, they show they CARE. That's the difference. Many game companies would say, we can't reproduce it, you should return it. I've had EA tell me that before. TM goes a step further and keeps trying to find a fix. You don't even give them credit for trying. You act as if they've just ignored the problem when they haven't. Mediocre companies...don't CARE, or try to fix the problems. GREAT companies do. :p

Toodles!

[vic_4]

Well said Bugsy!

[PhilL]

I agree with you buggsy on all points but one. This is not a little bug. Granted it doesnt effect everyone but the ones it does effect it basically makes the game unplayable. Any bug that prevents you from progressing through the game and playing all the levels is big.

[Simulus Maximus]

I agree with you buggsy on all points but one. This is not a little bug. Granted it doesnt effect everyone but the ones it does effect it basically makes the game unplayable. Any bug that prevents you from progressing through the game and playing all the levels is big.

Also, you don't know how many people have the bug yet do not post on these forums. Some may simply give up and return the game where they bought it, if they can do so.

[Kuplo]

Also, you don't know how many people have the bug yet do not post on these forums. Some may simply give up and return the game where they bought it, if they can do so.

This is quite true, there are many people that buy games that NEVER visit any forums on the web and they will attempt to return the game and if the store wont let them, they will just give up on it and never buy another xxxdev or xxxpub game again. I believe the amount of people that post to websites such as this is a very very small amount of people when compared to how many units have been sold. And of course nobody knows how many of those people had problems or didn't have problems.

I have many friends that never go to any forums websites of their games and probably dont even know that they exist. These people have just enough knowledge to load and play a game but not enough to seek out assistance on a website.

Anyway, good to see that someone sussed out a work around for this problem.

[eperdos]

changing that .txt file works great.

[Manni]

I have many friends that never go to any forums websites of their games and probably dont even know that they exist. These people have just enough knowledge to load and play a game but not enough to seek out assistance on a website.
That`s right!
I know some who don`t have internet connection.........;)

[PhilL]

NERO you da man http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/grinser/grinning-smiley-003.gif

I may have to replay the whole game from the begining now that I can trade when I want to

[SirKnightTG]

HAH! I knew it had to do with the line drawing connecting the cities. I said this several times in some of my previous posts. Too bad I never thought to look for things related to it in the config file like nero did. :) Good job nero!

[jbaby901]

Well, this fix didn't help me. Mine still crashed, though my crashes were random and not related to trades. Please don't forget about the rest of us who are still crashing.:(

But I am glad it is working for most of you. I'll attach my dxdiag just incase you guys didnt get it the first time.;)

[Simulus Maximus]

Well, this fix didn't help me. Mine still crashed, though my crashes were random and not related to trades. Please don't forget about the rest of us who are still crashing.:(

But I am glad it is working for most of you. I'll attach my dxdiag just incase you guys didnt get it the first time.;)

Alas, it didn't help me either. I tried the fix and as soon as my saved game loaded, the game crashed. I could not Alt-Tab, Ctrl-Alt-Delete, F4, or spacebar out of it; I had to turn my computer off completely and back on using the power button which I HATE doing.

Do you think it would it make a difference if I restarted the campaign instead of loading a saved game? I am attaching my dxdiag again, even though it hasn't changed since the last time I posted it.

[PhilL]

I was able to load a save game Caralis and open trade routes after the edit of the file. I am sorry to hear it didnt work for some. Double check the file and be sure it was edited.

[oblivius]

Hail Nero.

[Simulus Maximus]

I was able to load a save game Caralis and open trade routes after the edit of the file. I am sorry to hear it didnt work for some. Double check the file and be sure it was edited.

Yes, I double-checked the file and it was edited. I believe a trade route was already open, so should I load a game/level BEFORE a trade route has been opened? Any other ideas?

[Gard]

Worked good for me, went the entire night without a single crash! Now though, I find myself cursing the game for being too darn addicting :D

[bjornmmcc]

Oh yay! Just tried opening trade in Kingdom Mission 4 - Geno, and Nero's fix worked. All hail Nero!!!

[PhilL]

Yes, I double-checked the file and it was edited. I believe a trade route was already open, so should I load a game/level BEFORE a trade route has been opened? Any other ideas?

Others with your video card have problems too. I think I read here from keith or Phil WALKER something about using an older driver. Good luck.I am sure TM will egt it worked out.

[MarkDuffy]

Let's recap:

Game bought on the 27th at the earliest. Nero posts work-around on the 2nd.

Five Days

Man THAT is FAST!

Well done, Nero! :)

Congratulations to those who can enjoy the game now! :) :) :)

[Simulus Maximus]

Others with your video card have problems too. I think I read here from keith or Phil WALKER something about using an older driver. Good luck.I am sure TM will egt it worked out.

Could you point me to the thread about this? I tried the game on an older driver (don't remember the version, about a year old) and it crashed. I updated my driver to the latest version and it still crashed/crashes. Thanks.

[Dreasimy]

Worked like a charm, thanks so much!

[snooky]

WOW!! Thank you so much!! It worked like a charm! And thanks for the exact and specific instructions on how to edit the text file--I probably would have ruined the game without them.

And to think, 2000 years later, we discover that Nero really IS a god! :p

[Dave.W]

That`s right!
I know some who don`t have internet connection.........;)

How barbaric! No Internet? They might as well live in igloos (or teepees)!

On a more serious note, thank you Nero, now I don't have to keep checking for a patch that will let me play the game.

Kudos!

[Yenot]

tells me that i need original files please replace it after I altered the txt file :(

[yoshi]

ALL HAIL THE GOD!:D :D :D IS SOLUTION HAS WORKED, ALL HAIL, I AM A GREEN DINO, AND YOU ARE GOD *bows* ALL HAIL.HE IS A GOD![/SIZE]

[Cartpusher]

Worked for me, too. However, when you win the next scenario after making the change, you get a red "You cheated!" message. I also gave Caesar a gift, but I don't think that is considered cheating. I guess Mark Duffy has influence among the programmers.

We may not be able to play online, either. I have heard about people getting "changed game file errors" when trying to submit cities online.

Oh, in Narbo, my line to Apulia was yellow. Then in Caralis, the line to Cisalpine Gaul is red. Should be interesting, eh?

Not to toot my own horn...yes I will. I wondered in a post here a few days ago why things went wrong when the programmers changed the trade routes from a thin green line (in the demo which worked fine on my computer) to a fat red one. I was on the right track, but thanks for getting a similar idea and following through, Nero.

[rummy]

Thanks Nero, I'm going to build a temple in your honor with all the marble I am now able to import. You are the man. :D

[BellaTruini]

This fix also worked for me and I, too, get the you cheated message after every scenario. I'll play it like this and pray we get a patch sometime soon, now that the trade bug has been located.

[Simulus Maximus]

I'm so glad to see the idea works for so many people but I still get crashes. Once I edit that text file, should I restart the level? Loading a saved game (part way throught the fourth tutorial level, I believe) caused an immediate crash.

[Cartpusher]

Opened Caralis...built nothing...went to the empire...opened a trade route:eek: ...opened six more trade routes:eek: :eek: :eek: ...went to the city... built all seven docks.

Ships came to visit all seven. :D :D :D :D :D :D

P.S. I don't recommend doing this in your scenario. Too much up front cost and contrary to what your trade advisor may say, not all trade routes are useful. Also, it appears that the build menu can only display five unbuilt trade depots. If you open all seven at once, the one you want to use first won't appear on the menu until you build some of the others.

[Vesuvius 79 Survivor]

I have attached my DxDiag.txt file and as you can see I have a Dell Optiplex GX620 witha 3.4 Ghz dual core processor with 4GB RAM and 2 250GB hard drives with 193 GB free on C: and 232 GB free on D: (yeah, of course I like posting the specs). I have updated the video drivers from ATI, I never played teh game before I installed the 1.1 Caesar IV patch and I followed the instructions to change the Newconstants.txt file and I still crash after I create a trade route, exit the Empire view and go back to City mode.

[Manni]

I have a Dell Optiplex GX620 witha 3.4 Ghz dual core processor with 4GB RAM and 2 250GB hard drives with 193 GB free on C: and 232 GB free on D: (yeah, of course I like posting the specs).

You needn`t have done. :o

Those figures are to be seen in your dxdiag alright.

With 3582 MB RAM you can set page-file to 0........it is not needed anymore.

[vpsaline]

Great find Nero! Although I wasnt having problems with Trade Routes, Im with the gang of people crashing *Randomly or during bad weather/night. Does anyone know if Nero's fix helped with this, or if TM is refocusing its efforts away front tradebug more towards the *random/bad weather bug?

[loyd]

BRAVO !
This work for me too !!! Great discovry :D

[seamer]

With 3582 MB RAM you can set page-file to 0........it is not needed anymore.

Wrong, WinXP uses the pagefile for various low level processes. While 0 pagefile may work; it may produce 0 errors for 99% of the things you do; it would also be the stupidest thing to do when we're dealing with a nefarious bug.

[sintri]

lol, bragging about anything less than a terra's pointless, anyhow, that other guy was right, you have to have some paging file, if you have paging file on another drive, but that drive is swapped with none, your XP'll implode, well more or less it's pretty bad. Only reason I have more than a terra is because rendering uncompressed takes too much space, theoretically you wouldn't need even close to 1/2 a terra unless you're backing up every single thing you own including both drive data and medias.

ps was that screen from the scenarios? cause I've only been playing in sandbox

[HySpeed]

It worked for me, thanks Nero.
The error would occur at the time I clicked "Yes" to open the trade route.

However, if I went to the Advisor's interface, then to the World interface, it did not always crash.

But if I went directly to the World interface and clicked "Open", then "Yes", it would crash immediately all the time.

I am not going to spend the time researching further, but I wanted to add that info in case it helped the developers.

I am concerned about this "fix" interfering with the online features.

[Isis Crostus]

All Hail to Nero!! And Sintri to for the clarification. All those in favor of raising their level to GOD say aye.

This is a great game now that I can play it!!

[Zamolxes]

To Cartpusher: red lines mark water trade routes while yellow mark land based routes. At least in my games.
And yes, altering the .txt file bans u from online play. If u restore the values u can play again, but u have to deal with this nasty bug.
Is definately only a temporary solution, till devs can nail it and fix it, but OMG, Nero, you are a GOD, for saving my head and hair especially :D . I will build a great city, called Neromania in your honor, full with temples in your likeness, and a great neighborhood that will be burned down to the ground every single year :eek:

[jbaby901]

Great find Nero! Although I wasnt having problems with Trade Routes, Im with the gang of people crashing *Randomly or during bad weather/night. Does anyone know if Nero's fix helped with this, or if TM is refocusing its efforts away front tradebug more towards the *random/bad weather bug?

Din't help me either. Post your dxdiag so we can see your specs. I think my issue is with my video card driver. I may need to get an earlier driver.

[Manni]

Wrong, WinXP uses the pagefile for various low level processes. While 0 pagefile may work; it may produce 0 errors for 99% of the things you do; it would also be the stupidest thing to do when we're dealing with a nefarious bug.

Thanks seamer, you sound reliable!

So I had some false information there which I only heard of a short time ago. ;)

[tonyp321]

tthis worked for me and as requested Im posting my dxdiag.

[sls]

I know I've posted a lot about problems and I hate to even post again, but here's my history:
- random crashes playing game on laptop - had to reboot each time
- installed latest Catalyst & Drivers thru ModTool
- still crashing
- uninstalled the demo & full game
- re-installed the game & patch
- disabled all background & start-up programs
- turned off wireless
- set display to 1024 x 768 on both the laptop & the game
- still got random crashes

So on Oct 3rd I decided to reformat my HD and start from scratch (felt I'd been "fiddling" too much with "stuff"). ;)
- installed all the original drivers as per Dell
- installed a few necessary programs as well as Caesar IV
- the game played great except for crashes when clicking the world map
- changed the newconstraints.txt file and all was perfect...game ran like a charm :) and I've been playing it without any problems since (well I don't like the "You Cheated" at the end of each scenario, but I can live with that LOL)

Today all of a sudden, if I click on a land trading post, it crashes and I get a "VPU Recover" message (attached). Sometimes I can go right back into the game but sometimes I can't & have to reboot. Now the only thing I've done since I played it last, as far as I can recall, is install Adobe Acrobat Professional 6.0. Could that be affecting the game? I really hate the thought of uninstalling programs because I'm trying to keep this laptop as "clean" as possible so thought I'd ask here. Any thoughts? I do have the DxDiag files from Oct 3rd & today but I don't see anything different so won't bother posting them unless needed.

TIA :)

[Keith]

Try disabling the VPU Recover function from the ATI control center or Catalyst Control Panel. I've been reading that it can make your system unstable. Faulty cooling of the video processor on your card could be causing a problem, also faulty RAM on the computer could be triggering the problem.

http://www.memtest.org/

[Aspergillus]

Hail Caesar Nero you solved it!
You saved my day :D

Thanx, mate

[EmperorJesper]

Lots and lots of people also didn't have the bug at all. That would indicate to the programmers that it is NOT a bug on the trade screen, but one having to do with configuration. These forums and the people on it are numerous indeed, but in no way represent the entire amount of people who bought the game, and have had no issues. As for what they have you do (clean registry, update drivers, defrag, and send dxdiag), is standard practice for almost ALL software or hardware errors in tech support. It is the process of elimination. If you knew the sheer volume of problems solved by those few things, you would not be griping about them now. I would even add Virus Scan, and Spyware/Adware scans to the list on the general computer function errors side. Many many issues stem from those things needing done, and are resolved by having them done.

Well, there is also a lot of different configurations out there that have the exact same issue. Tech support almost always first blame drivers, then your hardware, Windows and finally spyware. And quite often, the best fix for a crash is to change the original application that crashes. Sure, the app may run fine on most systems, but if some users crash, it is a good reason to take a second look and see, if you need to change your eventhandler, graphics engine or whatever is triggered by that mouse click.

If this was a random crash, sure blame the users' systems. But this occurs at a very specific point in the app, which probably means that there is a bug in the software. That Tilted Mill has not been able to reproduce the error does not mean that they shouldn't review their code to see, if there is something they can do to make it more stable even for an unknown error by recoding the part that is involved with the crashes.

All the performance and stability issues that I've seen myself with the game, and that you can see the top of the iceberg of here on the forum, I am surprised that there has been no real patch for the game. I've played tons of other games, but never seen tech support repeat the same mantra "post your dxdiag" as much as with this one instead of providing solutions. That data should have been collected in the beta (game magazine previews of the game already complained about bugs, so maybe the game has been rushed).

Anyway, if they want all those dxdiags, here's mine too...

-Jes

[Manni]

never seen tech support repeat the same mantra "post your dxdiag" as much as with this one instead of providing solutions.

95 out of 100 that ask for dxdiag are no tech-supporters but helping hands from forum-menbers who try to help volunteering.

YOUR dxdiag tells me for instance that you use Nvidia-driver 6.14.0010.8456 from 4/17/2006.

There is out Vidia 9147 .......you might give that a try. :D

[sls]

Try disabling the VPU Recover function from the ATI control center or Catalyst Control Panel. I've been reading that it can make your system unstable. Faulty cooling of the video processor on your card could be causing a problem, also faulty RAM on the computer could be triggering the problem.

http://www.memtest.org/Thanks Keith. I appreciate your help but I've tried it all and it still crashes sometimes when I try to click on one of my land traders. Without the VPU recover function turned on it doesn't recover & I have to re-boot (plus it seems to go crazy & changes the resolution settings on my desktop when it crashes). At least with it on I can sometimes continue playing the game without re-booting. I'm about ready to give up...again. :(

I just returned 2 Caesar IV games today that I purchased for my son's & daughter's birthdays next week. They both love playing Caesar but with the problems a lot of people seem to be having (myself included), I don't want to risk them not being able to play the game on their systems (they're both away at college).

[Ysbub]

Thanks for the suggestion, but every time that I try Burdigala, I crash when I place the first trading post. Wasn't having problems before... maybe I'll go back to the original txt.

I have attached my dxdiag.txt file. Thanks!

Clarification ... when I use the Nero change, I place a trading post and the game locks up the the point that I need to unplug my machine, not good! When I revert to the original file, I get the nice "clean" crash, telling me that Caesar has encountered a problem, so sorry!

Think I'll try another city :(

[Manni]

Hello Ysbub,

you are missing sp2 from xp.

You are running AT-driver 6.14.0010.6458 from 6/10/2004 (antique!)
there have been 24 new drivers released since

Try the game first with the AT-Catalyst 6.3 from March this year (as mouse suggests) and if that also fails..............try Catalyst 6,9 from last month

your sounddriver dates 6/18/2003, try and find a newer

This here:

Drive: F:
Model: AXV CD/DVD-ROM SCSI CdRom Device

looks like a virtual drive to me.

Do lay that off and try again.

(another DELL)

Regards

[Ysbub]

Thanks Manni,

I appreciate all of the recommendations! I didn't realize how "behind the times" I was :rolleyes: I will give them a shot tonight after work and let you know how things go.

[Manni]

I will be looking forward to your message with pleasure and anticipation!:p :) :D

[EmperorJesper]

Upgrading drivers did nothing. If anything the trade route crash got more consistent.

Nero's fix on the other hand - fixed it for me too. Now I can at least play until the patch comes out...

[Kiya]

Nero has a most appropriate name! In my language 'nero' means a GENIUS! :D Congrats for making this find and helping others!

[yoshi]

NERO IS A GOD, HE SITS WITH JUPITER AND SPITS AT ZUES, HAH HAH.

[Estavius Maximus]

I've only got a gig and a half of RAM and run XP SP 2 without the page file, using just RAM for Battlefield 2, and haven't had XP explode. I think the page file isn't really that well understood...I'm not SAYIN'. I'm just sayin'. BF 2 is a bear, and on-line play is the only way to go. No page file is a recommendation to keep the processor on point. Seems to work.

I feel odd about altering config files, then getting a "you cheated" screen, because I did. I never thought it was that easy a thing to subvert in my mind. This is a real disappointment. I recall the Rolling Stones would play their recordings through a single AM radio speaker to hear how it sounded, and if it didn't sound good, they'd remix until it did. WHY? Because everybody listened to AM radios. You never heard them say, "Get a hi-fi stereophonic system to listen to our music." Claiming people have to buy top-end computers to play a thirty dollar game is the height of ridiculous.

Furthermore, I have to agree with the poster who took developers to task for releasing unproven software. It's really a matter of if you claim to be "in the business" then, the customer can have expectations that are reasonable. That's simple tort law. Developers have fallen into the habit of releasing buggy programs knowing they'll be releasing a patch. We have gotten into the habit of giving them our money anyway, instead of holding out for improvements.

Take a look at Sierra's website if you want an example of "quality control" (geez). My expectations for this game to be high quality weren't all that high. But, to find a bug while placing a key element in the game that everyone knows must be eventually placed...or the game can't go on...and it freezes the game? That's inexcusable.

Having no word from the "Official Community" la dee dah, owning up to the problem and ensuring a fix is in the works? That's par for the course. I'm inches away from reworking a review I just wrote for a highly-trafficked gaming site with one sentence. "Don't bother. It crashes." It's accurate. It's the truth. Maybe the "Official Community" could post something to the effect of "We know it's our fault. We're working the problem. We expect a solution soon. Please, stand by."

Sorry, I'm not including a DX diagnosis report with this post.

[bexgames]

Having no word from the "Official Community" la dee dah, owning up to the problem and ensuring a fix is in the works? .........

Maybe the "Official Community" could post something to the effect of "We know it's our fault. We're working the problem. We expect a solution soon. Please, stand by."
here's one:
http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showthread.php?p=129273#post129273
:) hope this helps.

[Estavius Maximus]

here's one:
http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showthread.php?p=129273#post129273
:) hope this helps.
Thanks for pointing that out. :eek:

[player1]

Here is something that could be helpful.

I used this fix to prevent crash when starting trade routes.

Then, after making trade routes, I removed the fix to see how game would work.

It worked pretty much fine, until I got request from Rome.
Then when there was a 6 moths left to give potterry to rome, when I clicked on Ship It, game crashed in same way as making trade routes.

This does not happen when using the fix.

Hope it helps...

[bettyvongorz]

Thank U So much for this post !!!!!

I've been playing all opus of caesar games and thought it was really a pitty not to be able to play this one.

I was really going to give up and I swear I'm not the kind of person to do so ......

Once again thanks a lot !!!!!!

I ow U one really :p

++++++++ GG GG GG

[Papa Joe]

Please bear with me. I am hopelessly computer illiterate. Can someone please give me specific instructions on how to make the change that has been talked about in this thread so that I can see if it will help me with my crashing trade route problem? i would certainly appreciate it. I thank you in advance.

I hope to contribute to this forum in the future.

Good day,

Papa Joe:(

[Amenirdis]

Papa Joe:

1.) go to the folder Sierra/CaesarIV/Data

2.) copy the file 'NewConstants.txt' to a save place, e.g. MyDocuments. By doing this you can always copy this original file back to the data folder, should the need arise.

3.) go back to the Data-folder, right-click on the 'NewConstants.txt' file, go to Properties and remove the tick from Read-only -> click 'Ok'

4.) open the 'NewConstants.txt' file

5.) search for the entry: EmpireLevel/TradeRoutePolys;bool;1

6.) change the 1 to 0. It then should read: EmpireLevel/TradeRoutePolys;bool;0

7.) save the file and exit

8.) right-click on it again, go once more to Properties and check Read-only -> click again on 'OK'

9.) start the game and see if it has solved the crashing problem for you, too.

Hope that helps.

[Papa Joe]

Amenirdis, thank you. I was able to make that change and the game no longer crashes when I try to activate a trade route. I got the red "You Cheated" at the end of the scenario but I can live with that because I know that I didn't cheat. Thank you again.

[Amenirdis]

That's great, Papa Joe. You're welcome. :)
I am glad that you can play now. TM is trying to fix this bug and once that patch is out that cheat-message should disappear again.

[Estavius Maximus]

Ah...but if you alter configuration files, you DID cheat.

[vic_4]

Ah...but if you alter configuration files, you DID cheat.
Since you alter just a graphic effect, it is modding, so you will have the possibility to continue to argue. Since you don't like the game enjoy the quarrel.

[Estavius Maximus]

Since you alter just a graphic effect, it is modding, so you will have the possibility to continue to argue. Since you don't like the game enjoy the quarrel.
I love the game. There's an element on this board that seems to think they're God's, err...Caesar's gift to earth. If you alter ANY of the game files, you're cheating. Same with marking cards, loading dice....if the DESIGNERS didn't think so, you WOULDN'T SEE that red thing...what's it say? "YOU CHEATED"

[Amenirdis]

Oh, for crying out loud! Leave this thread alone if you don't have anything useful to contribute to this situation and spare it from such pointless 'discussions'! This thread is meant for people who are suffering from the trade bug and I am sure they don't want to read through such a pointless arguement whether it's cheating or not! Honestly! If it would work as intended then those unfortunate people suffering from this bug wouldn't have to alter the file in order to play. It's just a temporary workaround until a patch fixes it. Finito. Now please... leave this thread to what it is intended for. :mad:

[vic_4]

Oh, for crying out loud! Leave this thread alone if you don't have anything useful to contribute to this situation and spare it from such pointless 'discussions'! This thread is meant for people who are suffering from the trade bug and I am sure they don't want to read through such a pointless arguement whether it's cheating or not! Honestly! If it would work as intended than those unfortunately people suffering from this bug wouldn't have to alter the file in order to play. It's just a temporary workaround until a patch fixes it. Finito. Now please... leave this thread to what it is intended for. :mad:
Completely agree (by the way I am one of the lucky people who have a smoothly running game, or computer if you prefer).

[Amenirdis]

Thank you, Vic. I am one of the lucky ones myself, but I do try to help those who are experiencing problems.

I am currently testing a workaround for people who are crashing or experiencing extreme lag when it starts raining. But I need some confirmation from a user first before I can post anything more specific.

[djbill]

I've do all the passages correctly but the problem still again...

[Estavius Maximus]

Oh, for crying out loud! Leave this thread alone if you don't have anything useful to contribute to this situation and spare it from such pointless 'discussions'! This thread is meant for people who are suffering from the trade bug and I am sure they don't want to read through such a pointless arguement whether it's cheating or not! Honestly! If it would work as intended then those unfortunate people suffering from this bug wouldn't have to alter the file in order to play. It's just a temporary workaround until a patch fixes it. Finito. Now please... leave this thread to what it is intended for. :mad:
Ah...isn't that what I've been trying to say? I also say, "We wait for the patch.":mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Amenirdis]

No, you were calling people who applied this fix 'cheaters'!
:mad: Now let's rest this nonsense here.

[Estavius Maximus]

No, you were calling people who applied this fix 'cheaters'!
:mad: Now let's rest this nonsense here.Hah! Let's rest AFTER you get in YOUR SHOT? Yeah, right. The way you rest is, you stop.
The programmers of the game put that little message in there. They wrote the rules, so they should know best, eh?
Or, do we make up our own rules as we go along...hmmmmmm? :eek:

[Amenirdis]

Good grief, do you think the devs expected people to HAVE to manipulate that file in order to play? Huh? It would be cheating if they'd get a advantage over other players - which they don't.
And the reason I said to rest this moot (or irrelevant, for the nitpickers among us) point is because this is not the right thread to discuss weather changing that file in order to be able to play is cheating or not. People posting in this thread or reading it want help and not such a stupid arguement. But by all means, open up your own thread/poll in the General Discussion section about this, if you want to. And that's the last thing I have to say about it. I won't waste my time further discussing this. Good day to you.

PS: You were the one who continued with this stupid arguement. I merely answered. :rolleyes:


Edit: spelling.

[blue_fairy]

I find it incredible arrogant of the tilted mill people if they don't make a patch for the Trade Route-crash. I bought the game for 47 euro's (That's 56,87 dollars) and I expect to buy a full working game, not one that crashes and burnes. And if unexpectedly it does fail, that there will be built a patch as soon as possible.
This is not something just a handfull of people experience. There are a lot more.

I don't want to alter the game code, in order to play a game where I payed good money for. I want it to work as flawless as possible.

@ programmers/tilted mill CEO's: So get your lazy programming asses from the couch and into a chair and start programming a patch!!!

---disclaimer: i've only read page 1 and 5. So if people are already working on a patch, none of the above has been said and I want to say: good luck! And HURRY UP!!!---

[bullet brain]

changing the file works BUT not for the online mode, because the game says i altered the files therefor can't play caesar online

[Estavius Maximus]

Shhhh...you're not supposed to mention that. It's not really "cheating."

Amendiris: A "moot" point is one where the argumentation is so wide-ranged it would take an eternity to debate it. It's not a point that's so obvious it doesn't deserve discussion. I guess vocabulary problems are why you don't understand the word "cheat".

[Kiya]

This discussion of 'cheating' is kinda fun. Someone playing a game in his/her home, doing what ever is fun for him/her should have nothing to do with 'cheating' or not cheating. It is another thing if you are playing online, then there should be the same rules for everybody, naturally.

What comes to this trade route problem, where you have to change your files in order to be able to play in the first place and thus stopping one important element of the game, namely online playing, now that I call a cheat. It is not cheating made by a player but cheating by the developers/publishers. It is now more than a month since the release of the game and no official remedy or patch for it. :(

[player1]

To me, it's ridiculus to call as cheat any kind of modification that only visualy changes the tickness of trade route borders in empire screen, without modifing the gameplay in any way.

[bexgames]

There's no point in discussing your opinions, they get the cheat screen, and they are reminded if they try and play online...I'm sure they don't like it, and there's no need to rub salt in the wound.
It's a temporary fix, so they can at least play the game.

If TM had a patch for it already, they would have released it. They are a company who listens and responds daily to us here. They know about the problem, and I'm sure they are not pleased with it. There must be a reason why we don't have it yet, and I'm sure it's not laziness or lack of interest on their part.
As soon as it's ready, we'll have it.

[Kiya]

If TM had a patch for it already, they would have released it. They are a company who listens and responds daily to us here. They know about the bug, and I'm sure they are not pleased with it. There must be a reason why we don't have it yet, and I'm sure it's not laziness or lack of interest on their part.
As soon as it's ready, we'll have it.

It has been said so many times that it is VU/Sierra who is responsible for the game, for releasing news etc. So when this is true, even if TM had a patch/fix ready they cannot release it without VU/Sierra giving a go ahead sign. There must be a real good reason why they don't have it ready by now. Not that it bothers me, but there are so many who suffers from not having a good fix for the trade route problem, just to mention one problem.

[bexgames]

I agree Kiya. It's gotta suck for those people who want to play online.
(or the people like Mark who are sticklers about cheating...can you imagine if MD had the trade bug!?! Oh, I'd pay money to see that!!)
It doesn't affect me, because I would never play online.
I hope it's really soon for those people.

I just responded to all the previous posts, whether it's cheating or not.
It's a temporary fix, that's all. Let them play in peace.
Now, after the patch is out, if we see a "You Cheated"...well, then that's a different story!! LOL!

[Kiya]

(or the people like Mark who are sticklers about cheating...can you imagine if MD had the trade bug!?! Oh, I'd pay money to see that!!)


me too and big money! http://www.fengshuichat.com/sitearm/smileycon_images/51.gif http://www.fengshuichat.com/sitearm/smileycon_images/24.gif

[Estavius Maximus]

I'm glad you see my wry sense of orientation...I see yours, too. It's interesting philosophically...as a football, as it were. I doubt the great Gods of Integrity will be throwing any lightning bolts over this. But, it raises interesting moral questions. A feature of moral questions is always revolving around "nobody's watching me" and "what if I don't get caught?"

[Mirela]

It works....

Super....

Many thanks to Nero


:)

[oliversl]

Solved my problem!!!

Many thanks!
Oliver

[Vad]

Hi,

I have also a problem with the tradeposte, the first time i click on it, there is no probleme but the second time the game freeze ans i must restart my computer.

[Mathieu79]

I think it's criminal to launch a game knowing it's have such a bug. While testing this game on several systems they would have known. I spend €40 on this 10 minutes bug. Thanks Sierra! Way to go......

[Onoff]

same here same nasty bug and solve by this solution...
thanxs to discover the bug...its a really nasty one...bug i mean:D

[yoshi]

i'vr managed to play through teir 4 empire, without aany crashes related to trade routes.

if u excuse me, caesarea is calling.:D

[dasiceman]

:) Yes, Who'd think that a little 1 or 0 could make such a difference.

I was about to pull my hair out as I have completely enjoyed the previous Caesar's. When I installed this episode I new my system was at the lower end of minimum requirements, so I bought a new ATI X1600XT XTG to give a little boost to the graphics of my 1.6gHz AMD. Well my first crash was in the first sandbox scenario, however I was able to go in an set my first trade route and go back to the game, but once I placed the trade port I could never go back and change or add any trade routes. I found this fix you posted and made the change after making a backup of the named file.

Went back to my saved game and proceded to play without a hitch.:rolleyes:

Oh Happy day, Played the trainer completly through and have continued to play without any problems in this regards. Thanks for the info and hopes this helps.

Oh I have ATI Catylist 6-10 install as that was the first thing I did before finding this fix.

[KirkA]

I tried the fix (changing the 1 to a 0) and it worked just fine for me.

After hours of reloading the stupid game prior to making the change, I was able to finish the mission in just over an hour. Any more problems with the game, though, and they will have lost yet another customer.

The only problem is that when I finished that particular mission, there was a note that said I "cheated". Oh, well! If that's what it takes to get the game working correctly, then so be it.

[Hermann the Lombard]

(Knocking on wood) I haven't had any trade route problems, but occasionally (not consistently) when I respond to a demand or request from Caesar (pressing "Ship It") the game doesn't hang or crash to the desktop, it crashes and reboots the (Dell) system. Someone a few pages back implied that the trade route fix helped this problem as well. Any truth to the rumor?

[player1]

Interesting...
I got similar crash, before I switched to solution for trade bug.
After that, it also doesn't happen.

[Hermann the Lombard]

It hasn't happened to me for a while, but if it recurs I'll try the trade route bug fix. In my case I suspected it might have something to do with my sound card, but that's just because the sound is acting up in general, not just with Caesar IV.

[Tim]

Its all very well fixing trading on the normal game but WHAT do i do to fix trading ONLINE ?

[Estavius Maximus]

You're not supposed to ask questions like that here. Blind loyalty is the only acceptable social norm here.:eek:

[Hermann the Lombard]

Time for me to try the fix: I've had multiple crashes responding to dialog boxes (both demands and other items) as I approach completion of Carthago. This morning was particularly aggravating as I'm trying to manage the final population push, especially jobs for the equites as I wait for the second basic good to spread through the insulae. Prosperity isn't good enough because the *insulae* aren't advanced enough. Not my usual problem.

[Kiya]

You're not supposed to ask questions like that here. Blind loyalty is the only acceptable social norm here.:eek:
http://www.fengshuichat.com/sitearm/smileycon_images/32.gifhttp://www.fengshuichat.com/sitearm/smileycon_images/17.gifhttp://www.fengshuichat.com/sitearm/smileycon_images/10.gif

[Hermann the Lombard]

No Joy! :mad: :( :mad: :( :mad:

After a few more crashes that rebooted my system I backed up and then edited the file using the crystal-clear directions given above (and I'm serious, the directions were perfect). Promptly crashed again, and I think it might have been on the very first dialog box when I clicked "Close." That's the problem I'm having: crashes when responding to dialog boxes. The crusher was a Major Benevolence from Ceres that was a Major Malevolence to my computer. The options can be "Ship It" or "Close" in response to demands or requests, but it can be "Close" in response to any of the other dialogs.

Anyway, I put the original file back and was still rewarded with "You Cheated!" when I finished Carthago.

[Hermann the Lombard]

The next thing I tried was Jimaaten's suggestion: "You used the wrong work around for that problem. From what I've read, go to your game settings and find the options to have the game not pause when the various messages appear. Click (check mark) them to stop the game pausing when the messages appear. You should be able to close the messages without crashing the game. Hopefully, it will work. Good luck."

No luck, I fear. I went in and checked all those options. When each of those events happens the game still requires me to click "Close" (etc.) to clear the pop-up dialog and at that point I get frozen silence for a while, then a few ear-cracking pops, and then the system reboots. This was in Mediolanum which isn't exactly a system-strainer. The most recent crash was when I told a bunch of intruding Gauls to stuff it...and I guess they stuffed my computer.

[Tarak]

Still no patch to fix the Trade Route Crash even tho the game has been out for 2 and a half months now. My local Electronic Boutique has already reduced the price of the game now and selling it greatly reduced. Next time i wont be pre-ordering games made by Tilted Mill so i can make sure the game isnt buggy before i waste my hard earned cash. Not Happy :mad:

[WrenchSlinger]

I agree...I bought Caesar IV near release date and I've only played it about two days total because I've been waiting on a patch. It's hard to believe it should take this long to fix this issue.

[Estavius Maximus]

They haven't figured it out yet.

[LLGamer59]

They haven't figured it out yet.

I highly doubt that. 90% of the work in fixing a bug is finding out how to reproduce it - at least with 99.9% of the bugs (there are some 'oh shoot' bugs that ARE really hard to fix, but most of the time you can code around them, even if that involves disabling some features).

The fix was probably done a long time ago, but is being held out to reduce the number of patches released. They're probably globbing a bunch of fixes and enhancements into a patch to reduce the testing cost.

Realizing that this game was DOA right out of the box - for so many customers - was at first frustrating, then maddening, then unbelieveable - and now unconscionable. We're going on 3 months :eek: without a patch to a customer-dead-in-the-water bug.

You know the really sad thing? I'll bet money that there was a way of making a minor change in the code that may have disabled some of the cool graphics while fixing the problem. So, all the work that people, including the moderators, have put into working around the problem is orders of magnitude more than it would cost them to fix it. Their time is obviously more valuable than all of ours.

Yes, I, like many people, will be looking for TM on the label when they make a future game buy - to avoid it. Just like the Corvair - Unsafe at Any Speed.

[Estavius Maximus]

:) Astute observations. However, wrong "they". I was referring to the "community". :)

[LLGamer59]

Ah, you mean us 'marks', eh? ;)

[wodinoneeye]

I highly doubt that. 90% of the work in fixing a bug is finding out how to reproduce it - at least with 99.9% of the bugs (there are some 'oh shoot' bugs that ARE really hard to fix, but most of the time you can code around them, even if that involves disabling some features).

The fix was probably done a long time ago, but is being held out to reduce the number of patches released. They're probably globbing a bunch of fixes and enhancements into a patch to reduce the testing cost.

Realizing that this game was DOA right out of the box - for so many customers - was at first frustrating, then maddening, then unbelieveable - and now unconscionable. We're going on 3 months :eek: without a patch to a customer-dead-in-the-water bug.

You know the really sad thing? I'll bet money that there was a way of making a minor change in the code that may have disabled some of the cool graphics while fixing the problem. So, all the work that people, including the moderators, have put into working around the problem is orders of magnitude more than it would cost them to fix it. Their time is obviously more valuable than all of ours.

Yes, I, like many people, will be looking for TM on the label when they make a future game buy - to avoid it. Just like the Corvair - Unsafe at Any Speed.


The earlier you catch a bug, the cheaper it is to fix it. Skimping on the QA department and not integrating it carefully into the production process has cost more than a few companies their business.


Funny, I know a guy who has made a living selling Corvair parts.

[Cybren]

This...hasn't been patched yet? And i was hoping to get to play the game some time this year.

[lucifix]

Worked for me to, but my trade routes are yellow.
how can a text document have something to do with the game ???

Magne from Norway.

[lucifix]

hello

[tenordrummer]

I used the temporary fix of the trade route crashes by changing the setting for the trade routs from 1 to 0. Whenever I won the scenario it said I cheated. I downloaded the new patch (1.2) this weekend & changed the trade route setting back to 1, but I still get the message saying I cheated. Anyone else having this problem? How do you fix it?

[Will Jennings]

To the earlier posters in this thread, patch 1.2 should solve your problems.

I used the temporary fix of the trade route crashes by changing the setting for the trade routs from 1 to 0. Whenever I won the scenario it said I cheated. I downloaded the new patch (1.2) this weekend & changed the trade route setting back to 1, but I still get the message saying I cheated.

Strange: generally the patch replaces your newconstants.txt file, and you shouldn't have had to edit it again. The 'you cheated' message will go away with a version of newconstants.txt that matches patch 1.2; one's attached. Use it to replace the file in your Data folder. I expect that'll work; let me know if it doesn't.